Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has stated that all the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Haryana have been certified Open Defecation Free (ODF), 21 ULBs ODF+ and 13 ODF++. All cities in Punjab have been certified ODF, 33 are ODF+ and 17 are ODF++. Chandigarh is certified ODF++ and 3 Star (GFC). During an online review meeting with the senior officials of the states of Punjab, Haryana and UT of Chandigarh, Secretary MoHUA requested the States/UT to see that all their ULBs improve their status to ODF+, ODF++ and also strive to achieve garbage free city status.  Ms. Keshni Anand Arora, Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana, Smt. Vini Mahajan, Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab & Shri Manoj Kumar Parida, Advisor to Administrator, UT of Chandigarh attended the meeting besides the Mission Directors of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

​The state of Haryana has constructed 65,829(93%) IHHLs against a target of 71,000 units and constructed 11,374 CT/PT seats against a target of 10,394 seats. Chandigarh has achieved the target of 6,117 IHHLs and constructed 2,423 CT/PT seats against a target of 976 while Punjab has so far constructed 1,00,157 (99%) IHHLs and 6,435 CT/PT seats. The States were requested to achieve the IHHL targets expeditiously.

​Chandigarh is currently processing 91 % of the 482 TPD waste generated while Haryana is processing 50% of the 4,895 TPD. Punjab is currently processing 71 % of the 4,108 TPD of waste generated. Secretary, MoHUA requested the States/UTs to increase the processing capacity.

​Punjab and Haryana have achieved 97% and 94% door-to-door collection of solid waste respectively. Chandigarh has achieved 100% door-to-door waste collection. In Punjab source segregation of waste is being practiced in 77% of the wards while in Haryana it is in 65% of the wards. In Chandigarh, source segregation is being practiced in 92% of the wards. Secretary MoHUA requested the State/UT to ensure that 100% source segregation be achieved expeditiously.

​Explaining the contours of the changes in the Swachh Survekshan 2021, Secretary, MoHUA stated that the new prize will be called 'Prerak Dauur Samman'. Qualifying criteria for this award will be based on segregation of waste, processing capacity for wet waste, recycling of waste, recycling of Construction & Demolition waste, percentage of waste going into landfills and sanitation status of cities and the ranking will be 'Divya', 'Anupam', 'Ujjwal', 'Udit' and 'Arohi'. He said that cleanliness besides changing the perception of the city as to how it manages waste also makes it beautiful and asked the States to make vigorous efforts in this direction. Secretary (MoHUA) suggested that the two states/UT should at least aim for Ujjwal (Silver).

​The Chief Secretaries of both the States and Advisor of Chandigarh gave an account of the efforts being made by them under the Swachh Bharat Mission including scientific waste processing. They assured that all efforts would be made to improve the performance of the States/UT and they will do well. Secretary, MoHUA appreciated the efforts of the States in improving the performance under the Mission thereby improving their rank under Swachh Survekshan, 2020. This will change the perception of the people towards cities which in turn will bring the economic opportunities to the cities. He mentioned that segregation of waste by the public is the key to cleanliness and prosperity and cited the example of Indore city where a Bio-Methanation plant is being set up which would pay the municipality for the wet waste procured from it. Secretary, MoHUA requested the States/UT to fix targets and work with the cities for achieving them.

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RJ/NG/DM